


take it easy, take it slow

by anahita



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Internalized Homophobia, Kissing, M/M, Panic Attacks, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26329150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anahita/pseuds/anahita
Summary: The first time it happens is when they’re dropping Robby off to college.“And who’s this then?” says the girl at the orientation desk.“This is my dad and that’s my dad’s boyfriend, Daniel,” says Robby matter-of-factly. “And this is Daniel’s wife, Amanda.”
Relationships: Amanda LaRusso/Daniel LaRusso, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 19
Kudos: 285





	take it easy, take it slow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alaena_70](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alaena_70/gifts).



> Title is from Don't Let Him Go by REO Speedwagon

The first time it happens is when they’re dropping Robby off to college. 

“And who’s this then?” says the girl at the orientation desk. 

“This is my dad and that’s my dad’s boyfriend, Daniel,” says Robby matter-of-factly. “And this is Daniel’s wife, Amanda.” They all smile brightly, if a little awkwardly. Johnny looks as if he wants to run away. 

The girl at the orientation desk shrugs and directs them to Robby’s dorm. 

Johnny takes Daniel to the side while Amanda is helping Robby plug-in his mini-fridge. His heart has been hammering for what feels like hours. 

“Should we talk to Robby about how he introduces us?” he hisses at Daniel. “He’s just a dumb fucking kid, always blurting out everything.”

“Hey, hey we don’t use that kind of language for the kid,” says Daniel, but rubs a hand soothingly down his back. “What’s got you rattled? He didn’t say anything wrong, did he?” 

“He’s got to spend four years here,” says Johnny, leaning back into Daniel’s hand. “He can’t afford to alienate himself.”

“How’s he going to do that?”

“By telling people about our weird life. You know we’re weird, don’t you?”

“WE’RE NOT WEIRD—” and Amanda looks up sharply from where she’s putting bedsheets on Robby’s bed. She gives them both a look. 

Robby went to poke his head into the bathroom down the hall and hasn’t heard them.

“You’re not allowed to ruin Robby’s day,” she says. They nod glumly. It’s only later when they’re having dinner at the college cafeteria and watching Robby talk to two girls who both listen to him with their head tilted back that they give each other a smile. Johnny lets Daniel put his arm around his chair and thinks perhaps they’re not so weird after all. Amanda is talking to a nerdy freshman she found lost on the grounds, they have a long drive back home, but the day is looking up. 

The second time is thanksgiving dinner at the LaRusso’s. He hadn’t been invited last year. They hadn’t figured their shit out yet. 

That was the time they’d had an awful fight over the half-assed kiss Johnny had pressed to Daniel’s lips before Daniel had properly talked to Amanda. Afterwards were the hours spent sitting together blah blahing over long dinners without the kids. 

Amanda had whacked Daniel on the head and moved them all along. They now live this kinky, but rosy life which makes Johnny wake sometimes in the middle of the night with his heart trying to run away from his body. It isn’t _supposed_ to be like this.

He refuses to sleep over the night before thanksgiving. “Why?” says Daniel, with his hand running up his back and trying to pull him closer. “It’s date night.”

“Can you stop,” says Johnny, his eyes flickering everywhere but Daniel. “I have to go home and water the bonsai.”

“The bonsai I gave you?” says Daniel against his mouth. “I know it died, you know.”

“Who told you?” demands Johnny, but lets himself be kissed a moment before leaving. A minute later, he’s beating the steering wheel to the CCR song on the radio and driving down the highway with the windows open and the cool breeze. He knows if he goes home he’ll do nothing but thirst for a drink. 

“Hey, Robby,” he says, parking his car overlooking the city. He can hear sounds of a party in the background. “Eh, you busy?”

“I can talk,” and Robby goes somewhere more quiet. “What’s up?”

“You know.” Johnny moves the dirt around with his toe and looks out at the bright lights spread below. Isn’t this supposed to make sense by now? Life, or whatever. Instead, here he is calling his kid for advice rather than the other way around. “Never mind,” he says, after a moment. “I’ll let you get back to the party.”

“No, dad,” says Robbie, “I could use a break, anyway. And I’ve—I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah?” says Johnny, a little smile appearing helplessly on his face. “Well, well.”

They talk for half an hour about nothing, just shooting the breeze, but Johnny feels better afterwards. 

The panic returns when he’s introduced to Daniel’s mother for the first time. “This is—” says Amanda, while they’re standing in the entrance. The other guests have not arrived yet.

“I’m a friend of Daniel and Amanda’s,” says Johnny and shakes her hand. 

“WHAT THE FUCK IS JOHNNY LAWRENCE DOING HERE,” screams Louie loudly, as he arrives behind Daniel’s mom. 

Amanda sits them all down and makes the introductions again. “This is Johnny Lawrence,” she says to her mother-in-law. “And yes, he’s the Johnny Lawrence who was Daniel’s karate rival, but we’re all grown-ups now—” she glares at Louie, “nearly all of us. And he’s our friend, yes. But he’s also more than that.”

“Amanda,” Johnny feels his palm sweat again. He mouth goes dry. He glances around trying to find a way to escape the situation. 

She comes over to him, looking concerned. He can’t take that either. He gets up abruptly and blurts, “Nice to meet you,” at Daniel’s mother before escaping. 

He’s in Daniel’s practice room going through a few katas of Miyagi-do karate when he hears him come in behind him. “I looked everywhere for you,” says Daniel as he comes to stand next to him. They move through the familiar moves together. They don’t talk. It’s soothing with the distant sounds of the party coming faintly through the walls. 

“How do you want to be introduced to her?” Daniel says finally, as they come to a natural stop.

“I don’t know,” Johnny shuffles his feet. “It just isn’t right.”

“What?” Daniel is a little angry now, he can tell. “Do you mean we’re not right?”

“Don’t be like that,” says Johnny and leans against a wall. 

“If you’re not happy—”

Johnny turns around to face Daniel’s trophies instead of him. “I’m happy,” he mutters, because he has probably never been happier, has he? “It’s just that, growing up a couple was supposed to be just two married people. It was—” a man and a woman on his television, and their two or three children, and maybe a dog or a cat, and the neighbor kid dropping in for lunch, and that was happiness, right? 

And sometimes he wakes up and he’s not sure how he ended up _here_? 

“You took me in, okay,” Johnny sounds angry now, “and my kid, but I’m not sure where we fit.”

Daniel turns him around gently and gives him a long look. 

“It’s hard for me too,” he says and they both chuckle at the memory of _his_ first freakout when he’d asked if that’s why Johnny had drawn a dick on his billboard, “but I know that you do belong right here.” 

He kisses him and its hard to argue against that.

The last time he panics is at Robby’s graduation.

“This is my dad,” says Robby, “his boyfriend, Daniel and Daniel’s wife, Amanda.”

Johnny takes a deep breath and gives his kid's friends a grim smile. 

They smile at him brightly and shake his hand.

Does nothing faze these fuckers?


End file.
